FALCONS AND CARACARAS: DUCK HAWK 
189 
Prairie Falcons were occasionally seen by us near characteristic 
nesting grounds—sandstone mesas or valley walls and side canyons like 
those of the Chama, with sandstone rim rock in which a stream of white¬ 
wash would guide the eye to the nest shelf. Two were seen a few miles 
below Lake Burford beating low over the park floor at the base of the 
cliffs, and one was seen dashing across a marsh making the small birds 
scatter before him. On the cliffs of the headland marking the highest 
point of the Staked Plains, we found a family of three young nearly 
ready to fly and one of them stood impassively watching us while their 
parent flew anxiously over our heads and circled around the cliffs with 
their strong steady wing beats. On Pecos Baldy, a falcon, apparently 
the Prairie, was seen beating up against a storm that was coming over 
the mountain, as if attempting to reach a sheltering niche in the rocks 
under the peak. 
Additional Literature.—Dawson, W. L., Condor, XV, 55-62, 1913 — 
Fueiites, L. A., Condor, VII, 35-36, 1905.— Peabody, P. B., Condor, IX, 180-184, 
1907.— Richards, George, Condor, XI, 164-166, 1909 (nest).—T yler, J. G., 
Condor, XXV, 90-97, 1923. 
DUCK HAWK: Falco peregrinus anatum Bonaparte 
Plate 9 
Description. — Male: Length 15.5-18 inches, wing 11.3-13, tail 6-7.5, bill .7-.8, 
tarsus 1.6-1.9. Female: Length about 18-20 inches, wing 13-14.7, tail 6.9-9, bill 
.8-1, tarsus 1.9-2.2. Upper mandible strongly toothed; 
wings long, pointed, only one quill cut out. Adults: 
Top of head and “moustache” black in striking contrast 
to white or bufTy of side of head, throat, and breast; 
back dark bluish gray or slaty plumbeous marked with 
dusky, tail coverts lighter, bluish; tail crossed by six or 
more light bars; wing quills blackish, spotted; under 
sides of wings and tail closely spotted or barred; lower 
underparts spotted or barred; bill mainly blue-black, 
iris dark brown, naked orbital ring, cere, legs and feet 
lemon yellow. Young in juvenal plumage: Upperparts 
brownish or blackish, with light brown feather edgings 
and tips; tail dark, usually crossed by light bars; under 
parts buffy, vertically streaked with black; iris dark 
brown, naked eyelid, base of bill, cere, legs and feet 
wax yellow (Allan Brooks). 
Range. —Breeds locally (except Pacific coast from 
Alaska to Oregon) from Nort on Sound, Alaska, northern 
Mackenzie, Boothia Peninsula, and Greenland south 
to Connecticut, Pennsylvania (in Appalachian Mountains to Tennessee), southern 
Illinois, Kansas, central-western Texas, Arizona, central Mexico, and central Lower 
California; winters from Vancouver Island, Colorado, southeastern Nebraska, east to 
Massachusetts and south to West Indies and Panama; occurs also in Porto Rico and 
most of South America. 
State Records. —In all the years of Henry’s collecting in New Mexico he 
secured only one specimen of the Duck Hawk and that was in the Capitan Mountains 
From Biological Survey 
(J. L. Kidgway) 
Fig. 30. Duck Hawk 
